Elder Scrolls

[Brian]

Has anyone here ever played any of the Elder Scrolls games? I wanted to play Morrowind but never had time. Now that I have read and seen Oblivion, I am going to have to buy it. It just looks so damn cool! I haven't played an RPG in a long time. I think the last one I played was Ultima 9. Well... Diablo II after that I think.

F.E.A.R. and NFS:MW are both awesome games, but shooters and driving games are starting to bore me. I guess it doesn't really matter anyway since I hardly have the time to play games anymore.

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/theelderscrollsivoblivion/index.html?q=edler%20scrolls

[Kurtis]

you forget about that little dragon game you were playing :-P

[Brian]

Yeah but I didn't play that enough to warrant being mentioned. Maybe a total of three hours. Overall, much less than one session of Counter Strike for you :-P

And it was actually a rather big game. Much cooler than your little Worms game, Mr. Skittlz (or however you spell that) ;-)

[Dyrewolph]

I've played morrowind quite extensively... I still go back to it when I'm bored... it takes a long time to get started but when you get some levels under your belt its quite fun... especially when you get skilled in some of the schools of magic... I've been waiting for oblivion since I first saw it on the elder scrolls website aaaages ago... I'm going to have to buy a new PC to run it though I think...

i'm still impressed with the sheer size of the game world on morrowind... every where you go there's some little area tucked away behind some door... there's underwater temples... ship wrecks... ancestral tombs... and the gameplay is very non-linear... there's a main set of quests but there are so many side quests that you can play for months without getting started on the main quest line...

there's warriors guild... mages guild... thieves guild (the three elements of each class - even ones you define [yes you can define classes in this game])... there's the temple guild... and a legionary guild you can sign up with (you can sign up with as many as you want)... then there's also the three houses that you can sign up with... all of which have their own sets of quests... and of course you can just run around exploring...

you can make your own potions using the alchemy skill... you can enchant your own items... you can summon armor and weapons and monsters to fight along side you... cast fireballs, ice, lightening... you can cast spells that lighten your equipment... or burden the enemy... you can be cursed... catch diseases... there's so much to the game... i dread to think how long morrowind took to make, let alone oblivion...

long story short... i'm looking forward to it...

[Kurtis]

Yeah but I didn't play that enough to warrant being mentioned. Maybe a total of three hours. Overall, much less than one session of Counter Strike for you :-P

And it was actually a rather big game. Much cooler than your little Worms game, Mr. Skittlz (or however you spell that) ;-)

it's SkiTTleS, thank you very much. =)

[Dyrewolph]

official website - http://www.elderscrolls.com

[bothersome]

Am so looking forward to the new one on the PC!!! Ever since I saw an article talking about the third party company who makes trees and grass look more real working with them this game has gotten better and better!!

[Dyrewolph]

well it's out and i've enjoyed what little i've managed to play so far... I am disappointed that there is no multiplayer side of the game (as far as i can see anyway)... aside from that it's pretty spectacular

[Brian]

More... tell me MORE!

I don't have the game yet because I don't have time to play it... ugg... I want to play it so bad :-(

[Frosty]

wow, is that HDR in the graphics i see? him i must buy it as well XD i just have to find the money somewhere grrr

any demos of it?

[PsychoSnowMan]

I haven't gotten it yet but I have the new PCGamer which has a review of it. They gave it their Editor's Choice award an a 95%, which means you could probably count with your fingers the number of games with a higher rating. The reviewer said it took him 60+ hours to play through all of it.

[Frosty]

well summer is comming up and that seems like it would take a good chunk of time to complete and i cant wait to start playing it

[Kurtis]

from the screenshots I saw of it, it doesn't look that amazing to me... to each his own, but RPGs aren't my cup of tea I guess. (even though I loved Final Fantasy VII)

[Brian]

That's just because your a negative nancy.

No game would look amazing to you unless it looked like the LOTR movies and even then you'd find something to complain about :-P

Nothing can measure up to Counter Strike though, right? ;-)

[Brian]

Here are some screenshots link (http://www.paparra.net/arxiu/post421). Dunno what screenshots you've seen that don't make this one of the better looking games out there.

http://www.paparra.net/imatges/posts/Oblivion1.jpg

http://www.paparra.net/imatges/posts/oblivion2.jpg

http://www.paparra.net/imatges/posts/oblivion3.jpg

http://www.paparra.net/imatges/posts/oblivion4.jpg

[Kurtis]

hm. i duno what game's screenshots i was looking at, but those are def. better :-P

the one i was looking at had models etc. that looked like they were from years ago. still not the type of game i'd like to play, but those graphics are decent.

[Brian]

Maybe you were looking at Morrowind screenshots?

Most of this games graphics are awesome. Some could be better but there is only so much you can expect. Of course, you need to have only the best of graphics cards in your system to get these purdy graphics. I think a 6800 is the lowest recommended card.

[Dyrewolph]

Direct off the back of the box:-

Minimum System Requirements:
Windows XP
512Mb System RAM
2 Ghz Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
128MB Direct3D compatible video card and DirectX 9.0 compatible driver
8x DVD-ROM drive; 4.6GB free hard drisk space; DirectX 9.0c (included); DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card; Keyboard, Mouse

Recommended:
3 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
1Gb System RAM
ATI X800 series, NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series, or higher video card

Supported Video Card Chipsets:
ATI X1900 series; ATI X1800 series; ATI X1600 series; ATI X1300 series; ATI X850 series; ATI X800series; ATI x700 series; ATI x600 series; ATI Radeon 9800 series; ATI Radeon 9700 series; ATI Radeon 9600 series; ATI Radeon 9500 series; NVIDIA GeForce 7000 series; NVIDIA GeForce 6000 series; NVIDIA GeForce FX series

[Frosty]

Direct off the back of the box:-


2 Ghz Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
128MB Direct3D compatible video card and DirectX 9.0 compatible driver

Recommended:
3 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processorp what the hell is an equivalent processor one that runs at 3 or 2ghz just of a diffrent brand or one of same performence?

[Brian]

The equivalent of a P4 2GHz would be something like an Athlon at 1.4 GHz. Athlons have more performance per clock speed.

[Brian]

Welp, I got the game the other day and have played a bit. Took some screenshots to show off the landscape and whatnot. I haven't progressed far at all, the horse in the screenshots isn't mine. I stole it :-P Funny thing is, I stabled it outside of a city, and when I came back, it was stolen by someone else! Or maybe the guards noticed it didn't belong there and they took it.

http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/thumbnails/ScreenShot0.jpg (http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/images/ScreenShot0.jpg) http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/thumbnails/ScreenShot1.jpg (http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/images/ScreenShot1.jpg) http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/thumbnails/ScreenShot2.jpg (http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/images/ScreenShot2.jpg) http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/thumbnails/ScreenShot3.jpg (http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/images/ScreenShot3.jpg) http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/thumbnails/ScreenShot12.jpg (http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/images/ScreenShot12.jpg) http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/thumbnails/ScreenShot13.jpg (http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/images/ScreenShot13.jpg) http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/thumbnails/ScreenShot24.jpg (http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/images/ScreenShot24.jpg) http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/thumbnails/ScreenShot25.jpg (http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/images/ScreenShot25.jpg) http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/thumbnails/ScreenShot28.jpg (http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/images/ScreenShot28.jpg) http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/thumbnails/ScreenShot30.jpg (http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/images/ScreenShot30.jpg) http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/thumbnails/ScreenShot31.jpg (http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/images/ScreenShot31.jpg) http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/thumbnails/ScreenShot35.jpg (http://www.thetechlounge.com/random/brian/oblivion/images/ScreenShot35.jpg)

[Kurtis]

someone needs to crank up AA and AF...

[Brian]

Someone prefers HDR over AA.

Didn't even notice AF was off though.

[Kurtis]

oh, that's right you have the 7800gtx. i guess you should have grabbed one of the ATI cards so you can have AA too :-D

[Brian]

Actually it hasn't bothered me at all. I don't even notice it while playing. Now if it was running at 1024x768 or lower, I would turn it on.

[Dyrewolph]

Brian... have you set foot on oblivion yet?

[handrail]

good screenies. i played morrowind a little bit. it came free with a vid card i had. i don't really have the patience for those games, but i REALLY don't have the patience for the MMORPGs and dealing with all the other morons online. i prefer the morons playing FPSs online. but oblivion looks pretty nifty.

[kingubu]

Ah, Morrowind. My home away from home. Like Dyre said, the depth of the game is awe inspiring.

After you join a house and reach a certain rank, you can build your own house. You start construction and can go out and look at it while it's being built. My Telvanni house is made out of a living magically crafted tree. Me, Ubu Roi, home owner! Quite a change from when I arrived as a young man on this island on a prison ship. Morrowind! Land of Opportunity! I'd make a travel poster if I wasn't so lazy. :)

And the books! Books in the game sometimes give you skill bonuses when you read them, but they also have actual short stories in them. And there are literally hundreds of them. Some of the stories are so good, I've spent hours trying to find part II and part III to find out how it ends.

Just mind boggling how much work went into this game.

I'll stop now before I get any more sweaty and flushed ;)

[handrail]

you're always sweaty and flushed.

[PsychoSnowMan]

How does the AI dynamically react in Oblivion if the gamer gets all sweaty and flushed?

[Dyrewolph]

it's so dynamic that you dont even notice it... it must be stealth AI!